TRENTON — A federal grand jury on Thursday resumed its review of evidence against embattled Mayor Tony Mack as it considered testimony from a former cabinet member in Mack’s administration.

Sources said Carmen Melendez, the former acting director of Trenton’s Department of Housing and Economic Development, on Thursday made her third appearance to the grand jury.

Mack could be indicted on federal charges he conspired with others to extort $119,000 from an FBI cooperating witness who sources have identified as Hudson County developer Harry Seymour.

The FBI paid Seymour to conduct a sting operation that led to the Sept. 10 arrests of Mack, his brother Ralphiel Mack and local steakhouse owner Joseph “Jojo” Giorgianni.

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Seymour, also known as CW-2, presented himself as a developer who wanted to buy city-owned property on East State Street and redevelop it into an automated parking garage.

During the FBI’s two-year-long investigation, Melendez was secretly recorded by FBI cooperating witnesses. In the criminal complaint against Mack, it doesn’t mention Melendez by name but refers to her as Trenton Official-1.

FBI cooperating witness Lemuel H. Blackburn Jr. and uncharged co-conspirator Charles “Charlie” Hall III were advocating the parking garage project to Melendez, sources said. Blackburn is a disbarred Trenton-area attorney and Hall is a former City of Trenton employee who worked for the city during the sting.

On April 16, 2012, at about 5 p.m., Melendez and Blackburn met at a Trenton restaurant, according to the complaint against Mack, which refers to Melendez as the aforementioned Trenton Official-1 and Blackburn as CW-1.

“During this recorded meeting, Trenton Official-l stated that Tony F. Mack was supportive of the Parking Garage Project. Trenton Official-1 advised, however, that the property should be purchased for ‘whatever the assessment value is,’ or ‘market value,’ and not for the nominal fee of $1, as was suggested at the January 25, 2012 meeting,” the FBI complaint says of the restaurant meeting.

“On May 15, 2012, Trenton Official-1 emailed CW-2 a letter stating that the total assessed value for the East State Street Lot was $278,000 and that the land value was $271,600,” the FBI complaint said.

“Trenton Official-1 later met with Tony F. Mack and Tony F. Mack approved the letter offering the East State Street Lot to CW -2 and the investors for $100,000, according to Trenton Official-1,” the complaint said.

The FBI complaint alleges Mack was supposed to get $50,000 of the $119,000 extortion pie for his role in offering to sell the $278,000 city-owned lot for $100,000. The mayor is free on $150,000 unsecured bond.

The Trentonian couldn’t reach Melendez for comment on Thursday. In Melendez’s previous appearances before the grand jury, a source said Melendez was asked to listen to the FBI’s secret recordings and answer questions about what she was recorded as saying on those tapes.

Currently, Melendez is a City of Trenton Mack administration mayoral aide who has been on unpaid sick leave. “Carmen took a leave of absence, but the reality is her position is done,” said a source with knowledge of City Hall affairs. “Once the budget is passed, her position is not in there.”

About the Author

Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman has been working as a professional journalist since graduating from Temple University in 2007. Prior to his current stint at The Trentonian, Abdur-Rahman worked at The Philadelphia Inquirer and wrote a self-published memoir about his 12-month experience of living in Australia on a spouse visa. Reach the author at sulaiman@trentonian.com
or follow Sulaiman on Twitter: @sabdurr.